Steam-pressing electric iron



United States Patent This invention relates to steam-pressing electric irons, and in particular to irons comprising an evaporation chamber, a water reservoir and a duct starting from said reservoir and having an end opening into said chamber.

The known electric irons with stre iii-pressing features, in which water is supplied drop by drop from a reservoir through a duct to an evaporation chamber, have the drawback that the water fiowing through the duct occasionally forms, at the opening the eof located in the evaporation chamber, i.e. at the water inlet nozzle mouth, large drops due both to the surface tension of the water and to the adhesion of the latter to the nozzle mouth, said drops extending over the whole front surface of the nozzle surrounding the nozzle mouth. Large drops always leave, however, a certain amo of water on said front surface. The water covermg the nozzle front portion is accordingly not renewed so that this front portion will not be cooled properly and the water remaining on the nozzle front surface will evaporate and leave a calcareous deposit on the nozzle. This deposit will grow up rapidly and the nozzle will soon be rally obstructed and the water supply to toe evaporation chamber accordingly interrupted.

The formation of too large water drops at the nozzle mouth supplying the evaporation chamber with water has the further drawback that the water supply of the evaporation chamber can momentarily be excessive and the steam produced in the evaporation chamber drive unevaporated water drops with it. It is, however, known to those sliled in the art that an electric iron with steampressing features operating correctly should not show any water drop in its steam flow.

it is therefore an obiect of this invention to provide an electric iron with steam-pressing features which can be used with common, not distilled and also not softened water. it is thus also an object of the invention to provide a steam-pressing electric iron in which the nozzle mouth supplying the evaporation chamber with water is prevented from an obstruction produced by a calcareous deposit thereon.

A further object of the invention is to provide an electric iron having steam-pressing features with drop size controlling means preventing the evaporation chamber from being supplied with water drops having sizes exceeding a predetermined value.

A more particular object of the invention resides in the fact that a steam-pressing electric iron already comprising an evaporation chamber, a water reservoir and a duct starting from said reservoir and having an end opening in said chamber to supply this chamber drop by drop with water from said reservoir, is further provided with drop guiding means at the end of its duct opening in the evaporation chamber.

Still further and more particular objects of the invention will become apparent in the course of the following description.

One embodiment of the steam-pressing electric iron according to the invention is represented diagrammatically and by way of example in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of this embodiment where- Edd-5,3 Patented Get. 1, 1%63 "ice by the front part of the electric iron, except the handle, is cut away, and

HG. 2 is a sectional elevation thereof on a larger scale, in which the covering cap and the handle have been removed.

The electric iron represented in the drawings comprises, as usual, a sole 1 heated by elements 2, which are embedded in sole 1 in a manner well known to those skilled in the art. A cover plate 3 and brackets 4 supporting the water reservoir 5 are secured to the sole 1 by means of screws. The cover plate 3, the brackets 4 and the water reservoir 5 are themselves covered by a cap 6 having its lower edge lying in the immediate vicinity of sole 1. The handle 3 is rigidly secured to the sole 1, e means of bolts 7", in a manner which is well-known to those skilled in the art and which does thus not form part of the invention. The handle G is provided with a control member 9 by means of which a standard temperature regulator can be set. A main switch (not shown) is also arranged, as usual, on handle 8. The latter further carries a control member 19 of the valve rod 11 and it is finally provided with a watevfilling opening 12, which may be shut by means of a cover plate 13 slidably arranged on handle 8. A water-filling branch 14 is arranged within the handle 3 to connect the water-filling opening 12 to the water reservoir 5.

The water filled in the reservoir 5 through the opening 312 and branch 14 can be supplied to an evaporation chamber 1% through a nozzle or valve body 15. The evaporation chamber 16 is arranged in the sole 1 of the iron and is surrounded by the heating elements a.

The nozzle 15 is formed with a duct 17. As shown in the drawings, the diameter of duct 17 is smaller in the lower part of nozzle 1'5 than in the upper part thereof. The two duct parts of nozzle 15 are connected to each trier by a truncated conical surface portion 15a forming a seat for the valve rod 11. The latter comprises a projection 11a at its lower end, which extends through the smaller portion of duct 17, when the valve rod 11 is down. The outer diameters of the dilfereut portions of nozzle 15 correspond to the diameters of the different sections of duct 17, so that the outer surface of nozzle 25 also comprises a truncated conical portion 15d extending between a larger portion 15b and a smaller portion 150. While the larger nozzle portion 15]) extends above a cap 18 forming part of the roof of the evaporation chamber 16 and is supported by the reservoir 5, the smaller nozzle portion 15c protrudes downwards from the cap 13 and thus extends within the evaporation chamber The lower nozzle portion is provided with the nozzle mouth 17a through which the water from the reservoir 5 is supplied to the evaporation chamber 16. It will be observed in the drawings that the portion of cap 13 surrounding the nozzle 15 is bent downwards so as to match with the truncated conical surface portion 35d of nozzle 25. A heat-insulating ring 19 is inserted between surface 15d and the downwardly bent portion of cap 8.

The nozzle portion 150 protruding into the evaporation chamber in is encompassed by a coil spring 26 which extends co-axially to nozzle 15 and has its most important portion freely extending below the nozzle mouth 17a. The free portion of coil spring 2% both controls the sizes of the Water drops supplied to chamber 16 and guides these drops from the nozzle mouth into said chamber. The inner diameter of coil spring 2% is substantially equal to the outer diameter of the nozzle portion 15c extending within chamber 16. Furthermore, the coils of spring 23 are in contact with one another.

A chute 2-1 is arranged within chamber 16 and is fixed therein only by its lower end, which is secured to the bottom of chamber 16 at the end thereof opposite to that at which the nozzle 15 is provided. The upper end portion of chute 21 is located below nozzle 15 so that the water supplied thereby will drop from spring 2t? on the upper portion of chute 21. Outlet ducts, as shown at 22, conduct the steam formed in chamber 16 to openings, as shown at 23, provided in the lower surface of sole 1.

The Water filled through opening 12 and branch 14 into reservoir slowly flows through the duct 17 of nozzle 15, when the valve rod 11 is lifted, and thus comes into the evaporation chamber 16. The diameter of nozzle portion 150 is chosen in such a manner with respect to that of the 1 wer part of duct 17 that the water drops which would normally be formed at the nozzle mouth 170, if spring 26 were removed, would have :a diameter larger than that or" nozzle portion 150. The water supplied by the nozzle mouth 17a will therefore first flow over the whole lower surface of portion 15c and not drop directly from nozzle 15 into chamber 16. This water will then come into contact with the freely extending coils of spring 2-9 and will further flow down along the helical groove formed by these coils. in other words, the Water drops supplied to chamber 16 will be formed at the lower end of the coil spring 2% and drop therefrom onto the upper portion of chute 21. The water dropping on chute 21 will flow down along this chute 21 and finally reach the bottom of chamber 16 where it will immediately evaporate. The steam formed in this manner will flow out of chamber 16 through the outlet ducts 22 and the openings 23.

The drop size controlling and drop guiding means constituted in the embodiment represented in the drawings by coil spring 213* thus avoid the formation of too large drops at the nozzle mouth and accordingly prevent the water mowing out or said nozzle from evaporating before it has dropped into chamber 16 and from producing thus a calcareous deposit on the inlet nozzle. A further advantage of the embodiment represented in the drawings resides in the fact that the coil spring 28 does not allow the water to drop into chamber 16 directly from the nozzle mouth 17a, but causes the water supplied by duct 17 to flow downwards along the coils of spring 2%. The water path will accordingly always remain wet and the uninterrupted and continuous water flow flowing along that path will avoid any evaporation i along the spring by cooling the latter to a sufiicient extent. Moreover, the spring 2% absolutely prevents the chamber 16 from bein supplied with too much water at a time. Large drops can obviously not be formed at the lower end of the spring 26, because there is no large surface at this end to permit the formation of such drops.

instead or" the spring represented in the drawings, a substantially rectilinear wire or a pointed rod could also be arranged in front of the nozzle 15 to guide the water flowing out of the nozzle mouth 17a downwards into chamber 16, thereby preventing the water wetting the nozzle from evaporating and the chamber 16 from being supplied with too large a water quantity at a time. The means used to control the drop sizes and to guide the drops down-wards can obviously still be given further shapes. Large surfaces on which the same water amount could remain a relatively long time, or which would allow large drops to be formed must, however, be avoided. Supplying the electric iron according to the invention with distilled or soft water is thus no longer required. This iron can be used with common water without any risk for the duct supplying water lrorn the reservoir to the evaporation chamber to become obstructed by a calcareous deposit formed on the water path.

Still further changes in the shape, sizes and arrangement of parts will also appear obvious to those skilled in the art within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A steam iron comprising an evaporation chamber, a water reservoir, a valve body mounted between said chambet and said reservoir and having a lower extremity extending into said evaporation chamber and having a valve opening formed in said lower extremity, said valve body defining a. duct intercommunicating said chamber and said reservoir and a drop guide comprising a helical spring having a Hlurality of contiguous coils posi-tione below said lower extremity in contact with each other and having an upper extremity mounted in embracing contact with the lower extremity of said valve body.

References (Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

